The year 2003 decided Malta’s destiny. A referendum was held on March 8 to determine whether the country should form part of the next European Union enlargement. At the same time, a third of the electorate voted in local council elections, avoiding a boycott of the referendum by the opposition Labour Party (LP). The turnout was 91% of the electorate, the highest ever recorded in Europe; 53.6% voted in favour of EU membership, while 46.4% voted against. The result was hailed by Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami as a victory for the “yes” camp. The Labour leader, former prime minister Alfred Sant, however, insisted that the issue should be decided by a general election.

The prime minister advised Pres. Guido de Marco to dissolve the parliament, and a general election was called for April 12. On a turnout of 96% of the voters, the ruling Nationalist Party obtained an absolute majority with 51.8% of the votes and thus secured Malta’s future in the EU. In Athens on April 16, Fenech Adami joined the leaders of the other candidate countries in signing the EU accession treaty.

Sant declared that he did not intend to contest the LP leadership at the next party general conference, but he later decided otherwise. He told his supporters that the LP had a duty to accept the people’s decision in favour of EU membership.